Summary
- Dental assistant courses or chairside dental assistant diplomas prepare students to work in dental clinics and hospitals.
- Dental assistants are an integral part of a dental healthcare team.
- They are also the first point of contact for dental hospitals and clinics, and they are critical in establishing and maintaining a trustworthy relationship with patients.
- The median compensation for a chairside dental assistant is $26.50 per hour. This is the median pay, so you might earn more or less based on your experience and region in Canada.
Dental assistant courses or chairside dental assistant diplomas prepare students for direct patient care and dental practice administration. They work in dental clinics and hospitals and assist dentists in different kinds of procedures.
Dental Assistant Courses: What are They All About?
The main objective of all dental assistant courses is to train students in infection prevention and speciality procedures and various kinds of dental practice administration tasks.
There are different kinds of dental assistant courses. Some of them just for a few months, while others take more than one year to complete. For instance, Edison College offers a 4-month chairside dental assistant diploma, which gives both in-class and online options to students.
Edison College is a premier college that offers a dental assistant diploma in BC. This is a hybrid package that will teach you both clerical and dental assisting skills, which are highly valuable and sought after in a dental clinic setting.
There are several benefits of a short dental assistant program. The foremost is that you can join the workforce in a relatively short time. Moreover, a short diploma also costs you much less than a lengthy diploma or a four-year degree program.
The curriculum and the type of courses for a chairside dental assistant include safety and infection protocols for dental clinics, basic trainings such as WHMIS and first aid, charting and record keeping, etc.
The basics of dentistry are also taught in dental science foundations such as dental terminology and language, oral structures and facial anatomy, general anatomy of teeth, types of occlusions, etc.
What Do Chairside Dental Assistants Do?
Dental assistants are the first point of contact for dental hospitals and clinics, and they are critical in establishing and maintaining a trustworthy relationship with patients.
Because of these attributes and the nature of their work, they are rightfully referred to as the industry’s backbone.
On a daily basis, a chairside dental assistant must execute various tasks, some of which are listed below.
The duties include preparing patients for dental examinations so that the dentist can operate on them without having to spend any extra time, assisting the dentist with various dental treatments, preparing dental devices and instruments, and so on.
Chairside dental assistants also perform administrative tasks such as scheduling and rescheduling appointments, providing post-operative instructions to patients, accepting payments, ordering supplies, managing patient records, and maintaining daily clinic materials such as gloves and other hygiene products.
How Much Do Chairside Dental Assistants Earn?
People who do dental assistant courses or chairside dental assistants have stable careers in Canada. According to the Canadian government, the median compensation for a chairside dental assistant is $26.50 per hour. This amount is the median pay, so you might earn more or less based on your experience and region in Canada.
It is worth noting that this is a higher median wage than other median earnings in comparable occupations across Canada.
However, if you live in Alberta or British Columbia, you may expect to earn even more, at $37 or $36 per hour.
People who get a chairside dental assistant diploma can later get other diplomas such as orthodontic assisting, oral surgery assisting, paediatric dental assisting, etc. All these diplomas can get you higher salaries as per your work experience.
Conclusion
The chairside dental assistant diploma is an ideal program for those who love to work in a decent working environment and have a good work-life balance.
At the same time, this diploma also allows students to join the workforce early, so they can start earning earlier compared to other programs.
Join the Chairside Dental Assistant Program at Edison College
Edison College’s Chairside Dental Assistant Diploma Program prepares graduates to not only enter this field but also flourish in it. This blended program will teach you all of the necessary dental assisting and clerical skills, ensuring that you meet all of the job market’s requirements.
Keeping this idea in mind, Edison College maintains contact with its graduates to assist them in job placement and to keep them informed of market trends.
As previously stated, earning a chairside dental assistant diploma in British Columbia can lead to one of the top earnings available.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us now to learn more about this program.
Read more industry-related blogs here.
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